Working Group Report on - Haryana Kisan Ayog

• The human capital of Haryana in the form of highly progressive andinnovative farmers is perhaps its biggest strength. It is evident from greatstrides made in agricultural crop production, dairying, and poultry. It mayexplain the fast growth in fish production during the last two decades in anotherwise traditionally non-fish farming and consuming State.• Good road connectivity across the State helps in easy and cost-effectivetransportation of both table fish and fish seed.b) Weaknesses• Limited availability of readily utilizable aquatic / fisheries resources in theState is one of the main drawback. Village pond resources still constitute theonly such resource which is almost fully exploited, while the lakes and riversare in a State of decline. The remaining resources may involve considerabledevelopment cost to make them suitable for fish culture.• Haryanvis are predominantly vegetarian and this cultural preferenceindicates that the State has to depend on external markets to sell itsincreasing fish production. While this is not a weakness per se as evidencesshow increasing fish consumption in urban areas and among the youth, itbrings market related uncertainties into play.• Extreme climatic and weather conditions of the State restrict active fishgrowing season to 7-8 months as fish growth is adversely affected by severesummer and winter temperatures and wind conditions. This often forcesfarmers to sell undersized fishes at less than competitive prices.• Fisheries has been treated as a poor cousin to agriculture especially withrespect to subsidization of electricity tariff, water use tax, income tax,transport subsidy, budget allocation, development priority etc. In a nutshellthough aquaculture has similarities with agriculture as occupation and itsimportance in ensuring nutritional security, sadly it has not been treated atpar with agriculture so far.• There is inadequate field level technically competent extension staff toprovide practical know-how to fish farmers as well as create awareness( 27 )